Salad Days

Ah-Ha Moment

I had an ‘Ah-Ha’ moment last week with regard to my career path.  I have held my fist to forehead, winnie-the-pooh style, and meditated off and on What It Is I Want To Do For The Rest of My Life.  Instead of thinking titles, I thought about characteristics:

• Incorporates travel. To be clear, I do not want to spend my waking hours racheting frequent flier miles and sitting in conference rooms which all look the same the world over.  I want to spend a significant chunk of time wherever I go really engaging the people there, leaving an impression on the people as they leave an impression on me.
• Project-oriented. Having worked a number of jobs before, I can tell you that I want something that will genuinely be different day-to-day.  And by that, I don’t mean, check my voicemail before my email this morning or type in MS Word today instead of Excel.  Is my ass still in a chair for 8 - 10 hours?  Are my main forms of communication to the outside world via a keyboard and monitor?  Am I still a victim of Secretary Butt? Then this job is too monotonous.  I need something that negates a sterile office setting - no matter how disguised. 
  
  • I think Point 2B) should be ability to create my own schedule.
• People-oriented. In a previous life, I used to want to be an academic professor.  After working and interacting with people all day, however, I realized I could never steal myself away for hours at a time amongst books and quietude.  I need to be around, interact with, and inspired by others.  I am too social
• Meaningful Contribution to Society. I want to stand behind and be proud of what I do or believe that my small participation will lead to bigger and better things for humanity.  No widget making.

While I think I have the Ideal Job in mind, I am not ready to disclose it to the Universe.  I am doing a little bit more homework on it over the next few weeks - looking at it from all angles, etc. before secreting it out officially.  I am in puppy love with this idea and sometimes words kill the buzz of emotions so electric.  I am in the are we / aren’t we dating phase of this job hunt and there’s no rush to start the ring shopping just yet.

Thankful For...

• The health, happiness, and love of my family
• My family’s breakthrough acknowledgment of my vegetarianism finally
• Awesome roomies and goldfish (what, what)
• Fabulous Brooklynite neighbors - you know who you are
• And in fact, all my friends far and wide
• Gainful employment
• Freedom in general
• Personal health: physical, mental, emotional
• Curiosity
• Creativity
• The full range of human emotion
• New media and the ability it gives me to plug n’ play into this crazy beautiful world we live in.

One Art - Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.

—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan’t have lied.  It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.